The plan for my Deep South trip was once I got to Asheville, NC, I'd take the interstates and head back to Austin. This is exactly what I did. Tennessee isn't very friendly to people like me who sleep at rest stops. I got a room at America's Best Value Inn. I guess that was good because I was planning to drive as much as possible. A hotel room would allow me to get a good night's rest.
I had rode out a storm the night before, and it was still raining and wet. I saw I'd be driving in a lot of rain. I ate breakfast and hit the road.
Besides Tennessee not being friendly to sleeping at their rest stops, their roads sucked. There were an insane amount of potholes. The drive was pretty rough overall. I made sure to just drive through and get out of there as fast as possible.
I finally made it to Arkansas. Like Tennessee, I kept driving. I did notice the storm left a lot of rain and flooding around the area.
I was getting hungry, so I stopped at a place called Nick's Bar-B-Q & Catfish in Carlisle, AR. After Nick's, I headed back towards the interstate. I figured I'd top off with gas. I stopped at this Citgo station and got gas. Behind the Citgo station was a mobile home hotel for $20 a night. This is the first I've ever seen a mobile home hotel. It looked pretty sketchy, especially at that price. The hotel's lobby was the gas station.
To the defense of this hotel, the gas station itself was clean. The bathroom was in working order, and everything seemed fine. I obviously didn't stay a night there, but if the rooms were as clean as the gas station, I could see it being alright.
While $20 a night was tempting, I made my way back to the interstate. I kept driving until I hit Texas. Unlike Tennessee, Texas is one of the best states for my style of travel. They allow up to 24 hours at a rest stop. This is where I ended up for the night.
After sleeping at the Texas Welcome Center, it was time to drive the last part of my drive. Austin here I come! It was a bit cold and foggy at the start of my drive. I was still able to pretty much cruise at Texas interstate speeds the whole way.
Of course, I hit a traffic jam when I got to Austin. You really can't drive around Austin without traffic jams. I was happy to get past it and get back to my apartment. That's where I unloaded the car and then swapped the 2007 Focus for the 2017 Focus in the garage. Once inside my apartment, I got everything in order and looked at all the groceries I bought along the way. I was happy to be back after how many days on the road!
